Yeasayer’s new album, Odd Blood, is supposedly even trippier than the first, and though it drops February 9th, you can check it out weeks ahead of time this Friday at both Waterloo Records and End of an Ear. And while you’re thinking of them, you should probably buy your tickets for one of their two Parish shows before they sell out.

NPR is streaming Spoon’s new album in its entirety, and what I’ve listened to so far is pretty kickass. You can catch them live for free at a Waterloo Records in-store Monday the 25th at 4pm, but if you want to actually make it in the building, I’d recommend showing up very, very early. They’re also kicking off SXSW with a show that Wednesday at Stubbs.

Vampire Weekend’s Contra is also streaming, and there’s a listening party for it Tuesday night at Scoot Inn. Sadly, I don’t have any pics of them yet, though they are playing Stubbs April 10th so I can maybe remedy that.

Oh yeah, and my Free Week photos will be up asap.

I kinda love iTunes Originals Sessions… it’s a mix of album versions of songs, live acoustic versions, and the band/musician rambling about their history; as someone who can fall into a Wikipedia hole for hours digging up trivia, and who adores Daytrotter, the announcement of a new session made me a little happy. And that it’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Awesome! More info at Pitchfork.

Am I using this as an excuse to post some of my Yeah Yeah Yeahs photos from Monolith? Hell yes!